Upon looking at the "National Day Calender" I saw that it was national play dough day! Not just that,but it was also National Cinnamon Rasin Bread Day! Being the super crafty mom that I am, and having a toddler who was walking around aimlessly as if he has no toys I figured it was a perfect time to have some delicious fun. With my tiny chef/ master creator by my side me measured and mixed up an aromatic salt dough in hopes that our playful endeavor would beckon fall weather to come to our house a little more quickly! Cinnamon Craisin Salt Dough:2 Cups All Purpose Flour1/2 Cup Table Salt1tbs Vegetable Oil1/4 Cup Cinnamon2/3 Cup Water (add more slowly if dough seems too dry and won't come together)1/4 Cup Craisins (or raisins)- optional

Mix all ingredients together until a soft ball forms. Has a little tougher consistency then play dough, and is great for toddlers who like to taste everything since all the ingredients are food!

As a mom to a busy toddler who loves to eat, sometimes taking the time to make a somewhat healthy meal just isn't an option. Just because it's lunch time doesn't mean he stops trying to feed the dog the remote, swipe my tea,or climbing and jumping from things that give me a heart attack, so I need something quick without reaching for junk. My need to save time and not wanting to serve my son complete junk brought me to this. I use nitrate free hot dogs, and jiffy corn muffin mix and pop the mix into my cake pop maker. If you don't have a cake pop maker a mini muffin pan will work too! This recipe makes about 30 poppers. My son loves these with a cup of ketchup for dipping and some baby carrots on the side!

Happy Tuesday! All I could smell throughout my house this evening was the meatloaf in the oven which accompanied the whipped potatoes and creamed corn & applesauce. Shortly afterwards i walked over to my Daughters to be greeted with the aroma of a port roast in the crockpot with potatoes and apples. It told me one thing... Fall is here! We look for those heavier richer foods that we don't usually make in the warmer weather. Mostly because I don't want to heat the house up from the oven. Oh another clue the weather is getting cooler my Hubby's flannel jacket was unburied once again from the back of the closet. So this is the perfect intro to our newest 5 minute craft project leaf prints. I think the kids spent more time looking for their leaves that were on the ground then actually doing the project. It's relatively easy. They paint the leaves with washable paint and then press them down on the cardstock to make their artwork. We would have put more on the paper but we were headed to a Trunk or Treat event so there attention span was even shorter then normal. So this was a very good 5 minute project.Maybe next time we can get more then one print.lol..Till we meet again..Mama Carol

Here is what we used to make our prints (we had small Styrofoam plates for the paint as well)I got the paint for 1.57 a bottle at Walmart. We now have enough for lots of projects:) 30 brushes for 2.00 at Walmart too. Leaves were free...lol

Since I missed posting on Saturday I thought I would post twice today.So before we went to our second trunk or treat outing on Friday night we did crafts for a short time. A very short time..lol.We try to keep crafts within five minutes ten tops or else we are sitting there finishing things with kids nowhere to be found. No they do not like to sit for very long.So my Grandson found a bingo marker one day and put dots all over everything. So since then every once in a while we occupy him with the bingo markers. Seeing it is fall we decided to go with fall colors. Aren't they pretty? I got them at Dollar Tree..They should be coming out with some Christmas colors shortly and we can do plenty of things for Christmas. I'm sure you will see them :) Anyways going to think what my next post blog shall be about..hmmm..Any ideas? Till we meet again..Mama Carol

Your supplies.Bingo markers, cardstock, markers

Trace there hand and forearm for the trunk

There's his little tongue sticking out again..lol

Feeling very accomplished!

Focusing on her picture!

The finished pictures..(minus one which disappeared. lol) I even did one with them :)

Can you believe it is Thursday already! What happened to the rest of the week? Only 36 days till Thanksgiving and 62 days till Christmas! Where does the time go? I believe as I get older the days pass so much faster. Could just be me though.lolWell as I said before if you have children or in my case grandchildren that don't sit still for long here is another 5 minute craft. The other day was a birdfeeder today is placemats. All you need is some clear contact paper, cardstock, markers, crayons and scissors and away we go...

Coloring the table was more fun

He is so serious! I love the tongue sticking out..lol

My Grandson said this is the bus from Epcot in Disney. Not bad for a 4 year old.

My Grandaughter decided to draw some Picasso turkeys. She colored them in before we put them in the contact paper.

Lay contact paper flat. Measure paper fold contact over to seal and cut away and extra edge. Instant placemats and they are so proud of their artwork! My grandson actually had to hang his Epcot bus on the fridge.

Happy Monday! Well we went to our trunk or treat on Saturday and the kids made out pretty good. Lots of ghosts and goblins. Seen Doc McStuffins, Jesse & Woody, Mario, The Incredible Hulk and many more.Oh how I miss those days! I have to tell a quick story though. One year my Mom didn't know what to make for my costume and she had a lot of green crepe paper from somewhere. I don't even think they make that anymore. Well anyway she decided to make me the Jolly Green Giant from the commercials. Well I was green leaves from head to foot. When my Mom decided on something she did it all the way! Well who would have known it was going to rain that night! You guessed it after peeling the crepe paper off of me I was green from head to toe. And it don't wash off so easily. Needless to say the next few days at school were a riot..Not! Anyway just another funny story now, so let's get to crafts. My grandchildren sit for about 5 minutes maybe before they are distracted by something and there focus is gone! So when we do any kind of craft item it has got to be quick so here we go with the first one..

Happy Saturday everybody! I hope everyone is enjoying there weekend! I know there are lots of Harvest Fests going on and trunk or treats which by the way is what I am doing tonight. Well I'm not exactly doing it but I am taking my grandson and daughter and meeting up with the rest of the family there. We usually have a nice time and the kids really score without having to ring all the doorbells. I don't know if they have trunk or treats everywhere? Well if your not familiar with it what people do is park in a row or in a huge circle. With everyone's trunk facing you. They decorate the trunks with lights and decorations and fill it with candy. Then the kids are usually given a bag at the beginning and they walk along the cars and receive their treats. The kids love it! Anyway I had seen a few weeks back someone took a divided craft box and filled it with snacks.Well I decided to make one for roadtrips. One of the things I was concerned about though was having anything sticky in it with the Florida heat. Well I think I lucked out when I was adding in the snacks because it has been in the car now in 95 + degrees for a week now and everything is still crunchy and nothing is sticky. Yay! I have to say Ryan absolutely loves it! In fact as soon as we get in the car he starts looking around for it! So I am showing you how you can make your own. Enjoy! Till we meet again..Mama Carol

Start with a clear plastic craft box whatever size you choose...

I made my template on the computer. You can do what you wish. Use scrapbook paper, have your child draw or color ect..

I just traced around the bottom of the craft box to give me where to cut to fit the template into the lid.

Tape your photo into the top and start filling. If you are going to have the box in the heat be careful with any sugary snacks. I tried to use non-sugared snacks as shown.

Though it's fall and the weather is starting to feel a bit cooler it's still warm outside here in sunny FL. Needing a few minutes to catch up on dishes and wanting a fun activity for my son, I wanted to let him paint, however I didn't relish the idea of him ingesting regular paint no matter how non-toxic it is. So Out came the juice mix! I took red,orange, and yellow and put about a teaspoon of powder in each egg cup along with enough water to come about halfway up the cup. Totally toddler friendly, and smells awesome even when it's dry! Be careful though, we did stain the high chair, but it's ok, we were making memories!

Have left over baby food? My son seemingly went from the bottle right to toddler friendly foods, he wasn't fond of baby food, so we had a ton of it left over, I donated some but wanted to keep the rest, why? Because it's awesome to cook with! Especially meals for him! In the coming weeks I will be sharing recipes for Mac & cheese cups, pancakes & smoothies all using left over baby food! But for today we have Creamy Fruit Ice Pops. I w as searching for kid friendly ice pops that didn't have all the extra sugar or the fake sugars added and it was near impossible or really expensive, so I came up with these little packets of awesomeness! I used a Sesame Street ice pop maker, but if you double the recipe you could use the typical reusable traditional ice pop makers or a Zoku if you are lucky enough to own one.